Carlton County attorney back on job after rehab

DULUTH -- Carlton County Attorney Thom Pertler returned to work in his office Monday after receiving treatment at Hazelden alcohol and drug addiction treatment center in Center City, Minn.
A spokeswoman in Pertler’s office said Pertler wasn’t available for comment Monday.
Pertler, 48, of Cloquet, was stopped by a State Patrol trooper July 17 after other motorists and the trooper reported him driving erratically. The county attorney was charged with driving while impaired, refusing to submit to a chemical test, speeding, driving over the center line, failure to signal, possession of an open bottle and no proof of insurance. He had a blood-alcohol content of nearly three times the legal limit.
He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in State District Court in Duluth next month.
Pertler joined the Carlton County Attorney’s Office in 1995 and has been the county attorney since 2005. He was an instructor at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College from 2000 until late February, when he resigned after another incident involving alcohol.
He checked into Hazelden about a month ago.